


Just Next Door

by Meli_writes



Series: Shallura for My Birthday! [5]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alternate Universe - Neighbors, Domestic Fluff, F/M, Fluff, can I barrow a scope of coffee?, cliche tropes sue me, shallura - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-07-02
Updated: 2019-07-02
Packaged: 2020-06-03 01:27:24
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,581
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19453519
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Meli_writes/pseuds/Meli_writes
Summary: Shiro moves into the apartment across the hall from Allura. Naturally, the two hit it off when Allura hooks him up with some much-needed coffee and a grilled cheese sandwich. This is a fluffy cliche fic that will most likely end in smut.





	Just Next Door

“Shit!”

Allura jumped at the sudden shout coming from the hallway of her building. Putting her book down she decided to take a look through the peephole and see what was happening outside her apartment. As she tip-toed to her door one of her mice rolled across her path in its little exercise ball and she silently shooed it as it stopped rolling to look at her. 

Through the peephole, she saw a tall, broad-shouldered man with short hair as white as hers. He was balancing a box in his arm, an arm that she now realized was a metal prosthetic as it glinted under the hall’s lights. That’s not something you see every day, she thought as she fingered her own hair. “Lost the keys already, Shiro?” She heard a voice ask and heard the man, who must be Shiro, answer with a flat, “Shut up,” as he dangled keys teasingly over the box, “I’ve got them right here.”

She smiled as she heard the disembodied voice chuckle. Leaning back from her door she thought, he must be her new neighbor. Suddenly, she felt a light thud against her ankle and yelped at the unexpected touch. It was just her little mouse looking for attention. “You want to play Chuchule? Alright then, go get the others and we’ll practice our routine,” she said and smiled as the mouse rolled away. Sooo cute, she thought and heard one of the men outside ask, “Hey, did you hear that?” making her freeze in place as she strained to listen to them further. 

“Keith, do you see how that door is closed? Mind your own business.” Oh my stars, she thought and hoped she hadn’t been caught spying on them.

* * *

Allura had done it again. She’d read her book for much longer than she intended and now that it was morning she was regretting it… well, sort of. She regretted being lazy the night before and opting to stay on her sofa rather than going to bed when she felt sleepy. She didn’t regret the reading. How could she possibly put her book down right when the plot thickened and the romance intensified? She couldn’t! 

Stretching with a smile on her face she glanced around her living room happy to find it neat and tidy. She was sticking to her New Year's resolution to be tidier and she was proud of how lovely she was keeping her space. 

Soon, her apartment was filled with the aroma of coffee and she felt herself begin to properly wake up. Humming to herself, she grabbed her favorite mug and poured herself a cup. At the sound of a knock on her door, she jumped and spilled her coffee on the counter. “Shoot!” Throwing a dish towel on top of her spill she walked over to the door and shouted, “Coming!” 

A glance at the clock on her phone told her it was too early for someone to casually stop by. Did the mice get out? Another glance at their castle showed all four sleeping soundly in a pile. Hm, she wondered and then looked through the peephole.

She didn’t expect for her new neighbor to be on the other side of her door, but there he stood in a long-sleeved black shirt and dark gray sweatpants that made his white hair stand out even more so than yesterday. She watched him stifle a yawn with his natural hand and then glanced to the side to make sure her metal bat was within reach. One could never be too careful, she thought.

Taking it in her hand she called out, “Yes?”

Through the peephole, she saw him jump slightly at the sound of her voice. He rubbed at one eye and sleepily waved at her door before he said, “Morning neighbor, sorry to bug you so early, but I was wondering if I could trouble you for a scoop of coffee? I just moved in and I can’t find my coffee in any of my boxes. I could really use a cup this morning.” 

Wow, Allura thought as she processed his request. “I thought this sort of thing only happened in movies,” Allura said through the door still watching, “you know like the cup of sugar thing?”

He chuckled and shuffled on his feet, “I know its a bit weird, especially because I haven’t met you yet. I just moved in yesterday and my brother labeled all my boxes with stupid words rather than the usual ‘kitchen’ or ‘living room.’ I promise I’m not some weird creep. Just a friendly neighbor that will owe you a favor and be eternally grateful for some coffee.” He smiled brightly at the door and she thought he looked adorable.

“Alright, give me a second,” she said and watched him sigh in relief before putting her bat back.

Smiling to herself she quickly prepared a tray with a sugar bowl, her coconut sweetener, and a mug of black coffee. When she opened the door she saw her white-haired neighbor straighten up as his eyes bulged slightly. “What?” she asked as his eyes jumped from the tray to her face and back, “You don’t get to comment on my bed head when I’m sharing my coffee with you,” she said with a raised brow and a small smile.

“What bed head? I was just surprised by all this,” he said motioning to the tray, “You didn’t have to do that. I would have been over the moon with a scoop of coffee grounds.”

“Yeah well if you can’t find your coffee I figured you might not be able to find your other things like a mug or a spoon. And I just made a fresh pot so it was no trouble. You can borrow all this.”

“Really?”

“Yeah,” she said smiling. 

“You’re a goddess, thank you!”

She felt her cheeks warm as she passed him the tray. “Will you be home during the next few minutes? I’ll only need a second to get my coffee ready. Or if you're free you could join me in my apartment for a moment? To get your things back once I’m done, I mean.”

His metal hand glinted in the hallway lights just before he grabbed the tray. Holding his gaze she thought that he seemed nice enough, not creepy at all, but she did have plans.

“I have to get ready for a meeting, actually. You can return it to me in a few hours. I won’t miss my sugar and sweetener until tomorrow anyway,” she said, leaning against her doorway.

He nodded, smiled, and thanked her again as he started walking back to his door. “Oh, I’m Shiro, by the way. And you are?”

“Allura,” she said softly. 

“Thanks, Allura. See you soon,” he said with a wave of his natural hand before closing his door. She stood there and eyeballed it for a bit longer still smiling. Handsome and sweet, she thought and decided she liked her new neighbor. With a sigh, she pushed off her door and walked back into her apartment. 

It wasn’t until she walked by her floor to ceiling mirror that she noticed that she did indeed have bedhead, her fuzzy socks didn’t match and she spilled a little coffee on her pink sweater earlier. Groaning, she thought, of course, she would meet her handsome new neighbor when she looked like this.

* * *

Sitting back in her desk chair, she sighed as she removed her headset. Her Skype meeting went well. As a senior editor of her family’s publishing company, Altea Publishing, she had to arrange bi-monthly meetings with her team that worked mainly in the London headquarters. She was just thinking of how proud of herself she was for making her move to the states work out as well as it has when she heard another knock at her door.

The smell of her grilled cheese sandwiches wafted around her from the kitchen as she got up making her stomach growl. Control yourself, she thought to her stomach and tugged on her shirt dress as she walked over to the door again. She wore a button-up collared shirt dress to look professional during her meeting but she still had her leggings and mismatched fuzzy socks on under her dress. Business up top, casual on the bottom. It was a luxury of working from home. Shiro must be returning her things, she thought as she looked at her reflection while she passed her mirror. She didn’t need to impress him, she told herself but couldn’t help fluffing her hair.

The smile was already on her face as she swung the door open. Shiro stood in the doorway with a smile of his own and quickly scanned her from head to toe. 

“Hey! I hope I didn’t interrupt your meeting,” he said balancing the tray on his metal hand. He had changed into a pair of dark jeans and she decided he looked really good in black.

“I’m all done,” she said, reaching for her tray, “want to come in? I’ve got a couple of grilled cheeses going for lunch.”

“First coffee and now a grilled cheese? I must have done something amazing in a previous life to receive such hospitality,” he said, grinning widely.

Stepping back to let him through she nodded and said, “Probably defended the universe from an evil villain in another reality.”

Shiro laughed at that and added, “Single-handedly, I bet,” wiggling his metal fingers. 

“Wow, I can’t believe you just made that joke,” she laughed and closed the door.

When she turned back she found him smiling as he looked around casually. “I saw the perfect opportunity for a hand joke and I had to take it.”

She shook her head smiling and said, “I’ll admit it was quick-witted.”

Looking back at her his eyes sparkled with mischief, “And a little funny. Besides, I know most people are curious about my hand, so I like to address it right away.”

She waved for him to follow her to the kitchen and said, “I’m more curious about your white hair than your arm. It’s not every day I meet someone whose hair matches mine.”

“We do match, don’t we?” He said running his fingers through his hair and taking a seat on the stool on the other side of the counter. “My hair went white when I lost my arm. Something about my body going into shock at the loss,” he shrugged casually, “What about you?”

“I was born this way,” she said just as casually and went to flip the grilled cheese. 

“It suits you. It makes you look warm and bright, like starlight. Mine makes me look old and cold.”

She looked over her shoulder at him curious about the change in his tone and found his smile no longer reached his eyes. “If my hair is starlight so is yours. Besides, I’d say you look more rugged and mysterious with your hair, arm, and the scar,” she said and tapped on her nose, “You know, like the hero in a romance novel?” 

Shiro laughed at that last bit and the smile made his eyes twinkle. That’s better, she thought. “You should have seen me with my hair long,” he said. The two looked at each other for a moment, both wearing soft smiles when she got the sudden sense of this happening before. Of being in a kitchen with Shiro, chatting about nothing important but enjoying his company. Of feeling at ease and peaceful. 

She shook her head, “Woah, I just got the strongest sense of dejavu just now,” as she spoke the feeling intensified. She saw it soo clearly. Felt it so strongly. It was as if her soul recognized him and said I know you. I found you. I found you at last. “It was like a flash of you sitting in a kitchen, wearing similar clothes, laughing and talking with me. Like we’ve done this dozens and dozens of times before and… we’re here again... ” Her voice trailed off and she shook her head to clear the mental images. 

When her eyes focused on Shiro again she found one eyebrow quirked and a one-sided smile on his lips. She laughed nervously and twirled a piece of her hair around a finger. 

“Maybe we both defended the universe. Together. I imagine that kind of thing forms deep and lasting bonds between people,” he said, his smile ever present. 

She narrowed her eyes at him, “Are you teasing me?” 

Mischief twinkled in his warm gray eyes again. “Just the tiniest bit.”

“Alright then, you’re having the smaller grilled cheese!” Allura said and spun on her heels to remove the sandwiches from the stove. 

Laughing, he said, “If it means anything I had a similar feeling of dejavu when we first met this morning. Like we’ve done that before, waking up early then bumping into each other and drinking coffee together.”

Handing him his grilled cheese she laughed, “It’s so weird, right? I feel like I know you somehow.” She felt like she’d been looking for him and hadn’t known it until she found him or he found her. Shaking her head again she decided she was probably reading to many romance novels back to back. 

“Same,” he said taking the plate from her, cool metal fingers brushing smoothly against hers. 

Allura walked her plate over to his side of the counter and took a seat at the stool beside him. “Alright then,” she said as he took a bite of his sandwich and hummed, “now that we’ve established that tell me more about yourself. What do you do for work?”

As he finished chewing she let herself admire his handsomeness. She admired his white hair finger-combed back out of his face, his long white lashes framing pretty gray eyes flecked with brown, his straight nose, the brutal scar slashing across the bridge of his nose and both cheeks, his full lips, and sharp lines of his cheekbones and jawline. He was handsome in a very masculine way and she tried to remember the last time she saw someone with this kind of beauty. 

An image of another white-haired man popped up in her mind’s eye but she quickly banished the thought. She wasn’t going there, not now. 

“I’m a veteran. I was a pilot in the Navy. Now, I teach a flight course here in the city,” he said casually.

“You can fly?”

“Not like peter pan,” he chuckled, “but close.” 

“Wow, that’s impressive. I’ll have to take you up on a lesson one day. I’ve always wanted to fly a plane or a helicopter.”

“Whenever you’re ready, I am. I think you’d love it,” he said sounding sure. “What about you? What do you do for work?”

“I’m boring compared to you. I’m an editor for my family’s publishing company. My list is mostly composed of books on politics and diplomacy. The company is based out in the UK but I decided to move to the states a year ago and here I am. Thankfully, my job allows me to work from anywhere.”

“That’s not boring at all. You get to work on books for a living? What a dream!”

Allura smiled and nodded, “I do really enjoy it.”

“I bet you have an amazing list of books that you’d recommend for me to read,” he said and took another bite.

Somehow that was the absolute most perfect thing he could have said to her. “Oh my, do I?! Ok, don’t tell me, let me try to guess what your favorite genres could be.”

After taking another bite he gave her a closed lips smile and a thumbs up. She rubbed her palms together then leaned in and looked him in the eyes. Shiro laughed after he swallowed and he leaned in meeting her intent gaze.

“Focus,” she said sternly, staring and wondering how gray eyes can be so warm when grey was such a cool color.

“Okay,” he whispered.

“Alright, I’ve got it,” she said, leaning back, “Youuuu have read a lot of military history but you really enjoy history-based fiction. Next, I’m going to go with Sci-fi, then Crime/ Detective fiction, and lastly, Mythology/Lore/fairy tales. How did I do?”

Shiro just stared at her. She watched him open and shut his mouth and noticed he had crumbs on his chin. Without a thought, she lifted her hand to wipe the little crumbs away. It wasn’t until her fingers brushed his freshly shaven chin that she realized she was actually touching his face and that she was being incredibly rude. “Oh!” she said and pulled her hand away, “I’m so sorry. That was incredibly ru-”

“How did you do that?” He asked cutting her off. His eyes searching hers for answers. 

“I beg your pardon?” She had no idea what he was talking about and he didn’t elaborate as his eyes kept searching for something, so she continued, “I apologize for my rudeness. I shouldn’t have touched you like that. We’ve only just met and I should have at least asked.”

“What?” he asked, brows knitting together and a crooked smile curved his lips.

She couldn’t help the burst of laughter that escaped. He looked so confused and stars, that smile made her stomach flip. “I lost you somewhere. Let backtrack, shall we? I guessed your genres and then I, um… you had bread crumbs on your chin...and I apologized…” she let her words trail off partly because she was frustrated about stumbling over her words and partly because he crooked smile turned into a grin and her stomach decided to put on a Circ du Soleil show. “What? Why are you smiling at me like that?”

He laughed then and she joined him because his laughter was contagious. “I’m sorry, I’m just in complete awe right now. You guessed my favorites perfectly. I mean down to the Fairytale bit and I 100% would have left that bit out. I’d have admitted to Lore and Myth, no problem but fairy tales… I can’t believe you guessed that!” 

His eyes sparkled at the end and she laughed again. “Making these kinds of guesses is sort of my hidden talent. I’m glad my gift is still intact. So… I didn’t offend you, did I? I can assure you I was only trying to brush the crumbs away.” 

Shiro’s smile softened then and he said, “I’m not offended in the least. Just in awe.”

Allura smiled back, unsure of what awed him but glad nonetheless. She really liked when he looked at her this way. Thoughts and questions raced through her mind as she wondered if he would agree to go out with her if she asked or if she shouldn’t ask him and just wait it out. Would it be weird to hook up with her neighbor? What if it ended badly? Would she have to move out or end up avoiding him? What if…

A ringing sound filled the air and Shiro pulled out his phone from his pocket. After glancing down at it he looked up and told her it was his brother and that it would only take a second. “Of course,” she said and tucked her hair behind her ears, “go ahead.” He smiled another brilliant smile at her and he stepped into her living room. She watched him walk around the room as she finished her sandwich and decided that she very much liked seeing him in her space. 

When he turned to face her and pocketed his phone he said, “Hey, I have to get going to meet up with my brother.”

Allura sat up straighter and smiled trying to hide her disappointment. “Oh! Yes, of course.”

“It was really nice meeting you and talking to you,” he said as he lifted his metal hand to the back of his neck, “I owe you a hot meal and a cup of coffee. If you’re free this weekend, you should come over to my place across the hall.”

Allura grinned then. She had to. He looked so adorable and he wanted to see her again! “I would love that. How’s Saturday?”

Shiro grinned back and nodded, “Saturday is perfect! Are you alright with an early dinner? Say... at 5 o’clock?”

“Perfect,” she said and walked towards him. His eyes quickly scanned her as she got closer and her smile was ever-present, “I’m really looking forward to it.”

“Yeah, so am I,” he said and turned towards her front door, “Oh, don’t forget about my book recommendations.”

She laughed as she opened her door holding the doorknob behind her. “Oh, don’t worry. I’ll think of something for you.” 

Shiro walked through the doorway and then turned back to face her, “See you Saturday, Allura.”

Allura nodded and smiled, “See you soon, Shiro.” 

Instead of walking into his own apartment Shiro took his keys out of his pockets and headed towards the stairs. She only watched him leave for a moment before stepping back into her apartment and closing the door. 

What day was it now? Looking at her phone she saw it was only Tuesday and she groaned and she flopped onto her sofa. 

Stars above, it was only Tuesday… 

Then the image of Shiro’s grin, when she agreed to go over to his apartment, popped up in her mind’s eye and she grabbed a throw pillow, hugged it tightly, and let out an undignified squeal.

**Author's Note:**

> Hi y'all! Thank you for reading!   
> It's that time of year again! Shallura for my birthday is in full swing! This is going to be a very self-indulgent fluffy, lovey-dovey, fic and I hope you'll enjoy it. <3
> 
> Come shout at me in the comments and/or on my [Tumblr!](https://www.tumblr.com/blog/meli-writes)


End file.
